Black powder, typically a mixture of sulphur, potassium nitrate and charcoal, was the gunpowder of choice for several hundred years dating from, at least, in the mid-14th century until efforts to develop alternatives were begun in recent times. Black powder suffers from a number of major drawbacks, including inefficient combustion that produces large amounts of smoke upon firing, fouling of the weapon from particulate residues, and poor hygroscopic characteristics. These deficiencies were largely eliminated for high chamber pressure weapons by the invention by Paul Vieille in 1886 of smokeless gunpowder, made from gelatinized nitrocellulose mixed with ether and alcohol. Subsequent improvements soon led to cordite, containing 58% nitroglycerin, 37% guncotton and 5% petroleum jelly, all in percentage by weight, patented by Abel and Dewar in 1889. Guns using these powders produced substantially only gaseous combustion products; hence they emitted practically no smoke when fired. In addition, smokeless gunpowder was much more powerful than black powder, giving an accurate rifle range of up to 1000 yards.
It was not, and still is not, possible to use such high energy smokeless powders in many types of sporting guns that are unable to withstand the high pressures developed. Hence, black powder has continued to be utilized in “cowboy action” and muzzle loading sporting firearms, amongst others, despite its drawbacks.